Emily's Heart Belongs To
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Oneshot that follows Missed Time - Mike and Storm both want to spend the day with Emily. Storm wants to go on a walk and Mike wants to take her out to lunch? Who will win her heart?


Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.

Mike and Storm still weren't getting along. It had all started back when Nighlok Spiders, which looked a lot like regular spiders, had tried to invade the house and Mike had gotten bit by one. The spider's poison had caused him to mutate into a human spider, and when he found himself face to face with Storm and Emily, he had scratched Emily's knee and he had bit Storm's neck and leg area, shattering her trust in him as she spent days limping around the house, whining from the pain. Mike couldn't blame her, so he learned to live with an angry dog.

While Storm was a house pet, belonging to all Samurai equally, she had formed the closest bond with Emily. When Storm wanted attention from the humans in the house, she would play with Emily, or cuddle with Emily, or bark and whine for Emily to give her the attention she was looking for.

She was also very territorial. Unless they had a stamp of approval, no one was allowed near Emily when Storm wanted her attention. This meant that if Storm and Emily were playing a game, or on a walk, or cuddling together for a nap, Mike was not allowed to intervene. This created a rivalry between the dog and Mike, where they would compete with one another for Emily's love and attention. It was funny to watch for the other Samurai in the house; especially when Mike would lose.

On this day, the rivalry was at an all-time high. Emily was in the shower after morning training, and both Mike and Storm wanted to head out of the house with her after she was done. Mike wanted to take her out for lunch, and Storm wanted to go on a walk. She had her collar in her mouth and was standing by Emily's bedroom door, waiting for her mistress to come out.

The rules were in effect. Storm had gotten to the door first, and therefore had dibs on Emily. Mike, who had been distracted by a snack, arrived second. The minute he turned the corner and started for his bedroom, thanking whoever created him that he could open doors and talks (giving him a slight advantage in this competition), Storm began to growl. With her leash still in her mouth, she lowered herself into a slight crouch, tensed up her muscles, lowered her ears and her tail and bared her teeth. It was a threatening pose for a dog, but Storm knew better than to ever attack humans. Emily had been sure to teach her that within weeks of adopting her. While Mike knew Storm wouldn't be gentle, he knew he wasn't in any real danger. The most she would do was bark and growl.

It was still a scary sight to see. Mike stopped right in his tracks and looked at the dog. Storm was not going to let him cheat. She got to the door first, and she would have been in the bedroom if it weren't for the fact that she was a little dog and couldn't open doors by herself.

"All's fair in love and war, right," Mike held his hands up and slowly approached the dog, "You have your weaknesses, I have mine. Maybe you'll win this fight tomorrow. Now, if you'll let me get by, I'll just…"

Storm barked and lunged for Mike, head-butting his legs because she knew not to bite. Mike nearly stumbled and Storm head-butt him again to try and knock him off balance.

"Hey!" Mike shouted and backed away from the dog, "You want to fight, huh? Bring it, tiny, I'll… HEY!"

Storm head-butt him again and then barked loudly. She was winning this fight and she knew it. Mike was backing away from the door and away from her. She barked and head-butt him again.

"Okay, okay!" Mike turned to walk away but Storm wasn't done. This was actually kind of fun. She continued to head-butt him until they were both running down the hall. She was chasing him all around the house. The two whizzed by Mia and Antonio, who turned to each other with strange looks.

"You think it's something in the water?" Antonio asked.

Mia nodded her head, "Probably."

"Wanna play a card game?"

"I've got nothing better to do."

Storm, meanwhile, had Mike cornered, with his back pressed against the wall. His only way out was to either go through the dog, which wasn't an option, or to seek shelter in the hall closet.

"How about we compromise?" Mike offered. "I'll take Emily out to lunch after she walks you for a bit?"

Storm shook her head. There would be no compromise. She would not let the enemy win.

Then, her doggie ears heard something Mike couldn't. The water had stopped running. Emily's shower was done. This was her chance. She barked at Mike and glared at the closet, telling him he was better off hiding. Mike wouldn't argue with the dog, who had clearly won this competition, and he opened the closet door and slipped in, intending on using the door as a shield. Storm approached him and started sniffing around. She could hear a set of footsteps coming towards her and she had a plan.

Jayden walked by and saw Storm sniffing around the closet. He wasn't sure what she was looking for, but Storm loved to chew on whatever she could find and usually ended up destroying them.

"Get away from there," Jayden picked up the dog and closed the closet, which had a nasty habit of sometimes jamming, making it difficult to open. Then Jayden carried Storm to Mike and Emily's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Emily called and Jayden did just that. He walked into the room and put Storm down on the bed. He picked up one of Storm's chew toys and gave it to her to distract her.

"Em, I think Storm needs to go on a walk," Jayden told her as he started to walk out. "She seems kind of energetic."

"I'll take her out once I'm done," Emily said from the bathroom and Jayden heard the blow-drier turn on. He left the room and failed to see the smirk in Storm's eye. She knew she had won.

A little while later, Emily came out of her bathroom and saw Storm was on the bed, belly-up. Emily couldn't resist giving her a tummy rub and then reached for the leash that was still in Storm's mouth.

"Wanna go on a walk?" Emily asked excitedly and clipped the leash onto Storm's collar. Storm tugged and pulled, and dragged Emily out of the house as fast as possible. She loved her walks.

-Samurai-

For Mike, it felt like he was doomed to spending the rest of his life trapped in the closet. He hated small spaces, and he hated being locked in… anywhere. He was claustrophobic.

After the door had suddenly been slammed by Jayden, Mike had tried to get it open but it was stuck. Mike knew that meant it was hard to open from the outside, and pretty much impossible to open from the inside. He was going to have to wait for someone to come by and rescue him.

But he was so scared he had lost his voice. He just curled up into a little ball and waited for time to pass, cursing his fear of tight spaces, and cursing the dog for somehow knowing his weakness. She had forced him to hide behind the closet door, and had mastermind a brilliant plan to have someone lock him in.

S-stupid smart d-d-dog," he hugged his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth. Someone would realize he was missing. Someone would come looking for him soon.

-Samurai-

The walk lasted a couple of hours, but Emily and Storm made it back home and they were hungry and thirsty. It was lunch time, so Emily was already thinking of what she would eat. She and Storm walked to the kitchen and she filled Storm's food bowl and water bowl and then opened the fridge to get herself something to eat and drink.

Then she closed the fridge. Then she opened it again.

There was leftover pizza from the night before. It was lunchtime, but it was a late lunchtime. Everyone else should have already eaten something.

Mike should have eaten his leftover pizza.

Serena walked by and asked Emily how the walk with Storm had been. Emily pulled out the pizza, ignoring her sister, and sniffed it.

"Emy?"

"Does this smell funny to you?"

Serena put her hand to her sister's forehead, "You okay?"

"Why is it still in the fridge?"

"It's leftover, Em. That's where we keep leftovers. If not, they would go bad really fast."

"Okay… so does this smell funny to you?"

"It's pizza from last night. It's still good. I figured Mike would have eaten it, but I guess he picked something else," Serena shrugged her shoulders and then looked to Emily strangely, "Though I don't know what. Mike loves pizza."

"I know," Emily put the pizza back in the fridge and glared at Storm, "What did you do?"

Storm continued lapping up her water innocently – like she had no idea what Emily was talking about. Emily, however, was fully aware of the war between Mike and Storm, and sometimes had to come to Mike or Storm's rescue. If Mike hadn't eaten his pizza, then something was up, and given the way Storm had hurried out of the house, Emily suspected the dog had something to do with it. Storm wasn't giving up any clues though, so Emily would have to go searching for herself.

She checked the obvious places first but Mike was nowhere in sight. She started to ask around. Serena and Storm both followed. Serena out of curiosity for what was happening, and Storm wanted to make sure Mike stayed hidden. She wasn't done playing with Emily yet.

When Emily couldn't find Mike in the obvious places, she started to ask around. Jayden, Kevin, and Ji hadn't seen him all day, but Mia and Antonio, who were working on a house of cards, said they had seen Storm chasing Mike a few hours before, and hadn't seen him since.

Now Emily knew Storm was up to something.

"Mike?" Emily called, hoping wherever he was hiding, he could hear her. Jayden and Kevin had been training in the yard, and hadn't seen Mike leave the house, so he was definitely still home. After a few calls, Emily heard an answer.

"Emily! Help!"

"Mike?" Emily stopped and looked around. She was in the hallway and she could hear him, but she couldn't see him, "Mike, where are you?"

"Closet! Get me out!"

"The closet? Why are you hiding in the closet? You're claustrophobic."

"For shits and giggles," Mike muttered sarcastically, "Storm tricked me! Get me out! Hurry!"

Emily tried to open the closet but it was jammed. She grumbled and turned to Serena, asking her sister for help. Serena was now on the floor, laughing hysterically at Mike's predicament. She knew he hated tight spaces and it was hilarious knowing he had been fooled by a dog.

"Serena…"

She was laughing too much to be of any help.

"I can hear you laughing, Serena!" Mike said from in the closet, "This isn't funny! It's really tight in here! I might be running out of oxygen!"

"I'll get you out Mike, just don't move," Emily assured him

"Where am I going? I'm locked in a closet!"

Emily started to chuckle, but muffled it as much as she could so Mike wouldn't hear. Then she glared at Storm.

"This… this isn't… nice," she tried to scold the dog but it was hard to do when she was suppressing a laugh.

"Are you laughing too? Em!"

"I'm not laughing," Emily chuckled, "I have hiccups…"

"Just get help! Antonio knows how to unjam it."

Emily nodded her head and walked to the common room. Antonio and Mia were just putting the last few cards on their house of cards when she came in.

"Mike's… stuck."

"Tell him to let go of the cookie and his hand will slip right out of the jar," Mia said and then held her breath to place the card down carefully.

"He's not trying to get the last cookie."

"Tell him that's what happens them you stick your head between the bars," Antonio said.

"He's not stuck in the fence."

"Tell him…"

"Storm locked him in the closet and now it's jammed," Emily giggled slightly as she pointed to Antonio, "He said you know how to fix it."

"Yeah," Antonio got up, accidentally bumping his knee into the table and knocking over the house of cards. Mia gave him a glare. It had taken the hours to get it up so high and with a simple tap, he had knocked it all down.

"I guess that's the end of that," she sighed and started collecting the cards. Antonio went to his room to get out his toolbox. When he came back, he started to work on the door. It took a little more time than he had hoped, because it was hard to work when his body was shaking from holding in his laugh.

He finally got the door to open and Mike could get out. He jumped up and practically flew out of the closet and ran outside. After spending a couple of hours locked in a small closet, he didn't even like the thought of being inside the house. He needed the fresh air, he needed space.

"Looks like Jayden and I aren't the only two to come out of the closet," Antonio chuckled and he took the door down completely, "I should really fix this so it stops jamming."

"I'll make sure Mike's okay," Emily said and followed him outside. Mike wasn't within the gates, but Emily had already assumed that. She opened the gate and stepped off Shiba grounds, into the forest. Mike was up in one of the trees, trying to calm himself down and enjoying the big, open space.

"Closet walls don't actually close in on people, you know that, right," Emily looked up and chuckled, "You were perfectly safe."

"I don't laugh at you when you get scared," Mike sulked and turned away from Emily.

"You laughed at Jayden for being scared of spiders. Remember, that's how your whole rivalry with Storm started.

"Jayden's my friend. That's different. I expect him to laugh at me. I expect Serena to laugh at me too."

"I'm not laughing at you," Emily grabbed the lowest branch on the tree and pulled herself up. "Storm chased you into the closet. You have to admit, that's kind of funny."

"Storm chasing me around the house was funny," Mike shook his head, "Storm outsmarting me was funny. Nothing about the closet was funny. How would you like it if I put you in a burning house?"

"I'm sorry," Emily finally reached Mike's branch and sat down beside him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder so she could whisper in his ear, "I shouldn't have laughed. I love you."

Mike shrugged, "Next time, just get me out."

"I will. I promise," Emily crossed her heart and smiled, "I have my fears and you have yours."

"Remember that."

"I will," Emily smiled. She leaned in a little closer to Mike, "So, what exactly were you and Storm fighting over this time?"

"Storm wanted to go on a walk. I wanted to go out to lunch, just us."

"Did you try compromising? I could have walked her and then gone out to lunch with you."

"Have you ever tried compromising with that dog?" Mike shook his head. "It's impossible. Instead, she just started head-butting me, and then chased me around the house. I was trapped by the closet, she tricked me and I used the door to defend myself, and then Jayden locked me in."

"And you didn't call for help?"

"You know when you're paralyzed in fear? That's what happened."

"Until I came."

"I thought you would help me without laughing at me."

"Sorry," Emily lowered her gaze. "Next time something scares me, you can laugh at me."

"I don't want to. You're scared of it for a reason."

"You're really making me feel crummy, you know that, right?"

"That's what you get for laughing at me," Mike chuckled. Emily playfully shoved him, and he responded by shoving her back. He did so a little too hard, and Emily didn't see it coming. She lost her balance and fell right off the branch.

"Dammit!" Mike cried and whipped out his Samurai. He quickly traced a symbol and one of the leaves from the tree grew out and caught Emily just before she hit the ground. It wrapped her up in a little cocoon and lifted her back into the tree. Then Mike unwrapped her.

"Alright, now we're even," Emily said as Mike helped her back onto the branch, "I laugh at you for being scared, and you push me out of a tree."

"Sounds fair," Mike nodded his head. "Are you okay? It's a long way down."

"I know," Emily looked to the ground and then pulled her head back up. Mike started to chuckle.

"You're afraid of heights."

"Nahuh. I'm afraid of flying. I'm not fond of heights. Stop laughing."

"Sorry," Mike put his hand over his mouth and then held up his Samuraizer, "On a completely unrelated note, want to get down?" he smirked and nudged her, this time very gently.

"Yes. Not because I'm scared, but because the earth is my element and I feel more comfortable there."

"Shall we take the leaf-evator," a giant leaf opened up before Mike and Emily and they both hopped on, allowing it to lower them down safely and gently. Then they took each other's hand and started for home.

"Hey, Em," Mike interrupted the silence and looked down at Emily, "If I didn't get locked in the closet and asked you out to lunch, would you have gone with me, or walked Storm?"

"We can go to lunch now. I haven't eaten yet, and the pizza slice in the fridge tells me you haven't eaten either."

"Awesome, but that doesn't answer my question."

"Not all questions need answers."

"Just tell me if you would have chosen me or Storm."

"What if I said the three of us could have walked out to lunch?"

"You're being difficult. The dog or your fiancé. Choose one."

"Did you know that cows…?"

"Now you're avoiding the question entirely."

"We should stop for ice-cream on the way home."

"Are you avoiding it because the answer is Storm, or can you really not decide?"

"You know, it looks like it might rain. If we're going to a restaurant, we should dine in."

"I'll answer for you. I love you, Mike, of course I would choose you over my stupid, evil dog. I would choose you any day. You're amazing. You're so strong, and despite what everyone says, you're the best Samurai on this team. Jayden and Kevin wish they could be as awesome as you."

"You know what my favourite kind of cake is?" Emily giggled. "Ice-cream cake with a cookie base. It's like all my favourites mixed into one. "


End file.
